July 27, 2011

The popular online flashcard service Quizlet recently made two big announcements. First, they now offer text-to-speech in eighteen languages. Second, they launched a new study mode that they've name "speller." Speller mode plays words for you that you then have to type correctly into the space provided. If you misspell the word that is read to you, Quizlet will show you your errors.

Last week we shared some teachers’ ideas for beginning the school year. Here are some more:

From the FLTEACH listserv:

I've tried new things each year, and here are some things that work for me.

I have a paper outside my classroom with my name, classroom number and schedule (period and class) so that students can see that they are in the right place. In the first day of school, I have an extra paper on the window so that students can check that they are in the right place. In the first day of school, I also write "Bienvenidos a la clase de español -- Profesora Bass". That also helps them check that they are in the right place (this is to avoid embarrassing them in front of the students because they are in the wrong place).

As they are coming into the classroom the first day of school, I ask them for their last name, and tell them what their seat number is, and tell them to start working on the sheet that is on their seat (it's a sheet where I ask them for personal information and some questions about their background and goals in the class and future - I change the questions every year based on what I want to know about them). The reason why I do this is because I want them to start getting used to the fact that they are going to be working as soon as they walk in every day. When I'm telling the students their seat numbers, I have a list of students that is in alphabetical order, and I write their seat number right next to their name.

In the first day of school, after the bell, I greet them, and go over my rules and procedures, and have them practice some of them - such as passing papers. I have them pass papers to the center.

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I like "Find Someone Who" stuff....
In English for level 1: Find someone who can sing a song in French, knows who Tony Parker is, who has eaten a croissant (there must be some easy ones), who can say something in French, etc.
For level 2 and up, I use the target language; for level 2 I usually use likes and dislikes -- who likes soccer, ice cream, classical music, math, etc.
For level 3 I use past tense to talk about summer: who worked, who slept a lot, etc.

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Last week several teachers mentioned using PQA, personalized questions and answers. You can watch a demonstration of this technique and others on the first day of class at http://vimeo.com/14623651 . The teacher, Scott Benedict, also has a website full of professional development opportunities at http://teachforjune.com

Program helping students learn English language
By Phyllis Coulter
July 18, 2011

The “English Alive” program in District 87 was aimed for students learning English as a second language. Each day during the three-week program, the 14 K-3 students learned a lesson, and then visited an example: learn about animals, visit the zoo; learn about community helpers, visit police and firefighters.

“We used our eyes, nose, mouths, ears and our language to learn,” said Anne Holdren, one of two Stevenson Elementary teachers who developed the program for English language learners at Stevenson and Oakland elementary schools.

Without such an opportunity, the children would have “limited exposure” to typical summer activities and programs that can help them maintain the English they learned during the school year, said co-teacher Katie Largent, who co-created the program.

Too often, Chad Hicks sees students simply nod their heads to signal teachers their understanding of a subject. They feign comprehension of a topic to avoid further questioning.

This is a major problem, especially at a school where about 85 percent of its students are limited-English proficient, he said.

But that was one of the issues Echo Loder set out to address at the beginning of the last school year, said Hicks, who will start his second year as principal of the school on Monday. The school confronted this challenge by implementing the Guided Learning Acquisition Design system (GLAD), a model that specializes in language acquisition and literacy.

Echo Loder was one of the seven Washoe County schools chosen to receive federal Title I School Improvement Grants. It was the only one to become a language academy.

To continue its ascent in the language field, Echo Loder is implementing a dual-immersion program this year, a course where students are taught English and Spanish together. Students will learn in an English-only class as well as a Spanish-only course. It's designed to further immerse students in both languages, said Kien Lachelli, Echo Loder's language instruction coordinator.

MARACAS is an interactive language learning program designed for preschool and elementary age children. The MARACAS Las Cuatro Estaciones curriculum uses music, interactive play, literature and crafts to expose children to the sounds and rhythms of Spanish in a fun and exciting way. Using a Multiple Intelligences approach, the students are immersed in the target language through exploratory learning and content based activities.

Amanda Seewald, M.Ed. developed the MARACAS methods and curriculum in many classrooms with hundreds of students since 2002. Seewald is now making the MARACAS Las Cuatro Estaciones curriculum and accompanying songs available to the public in a format that is extremely affordable for teachers, home-based learners and students to utilize in and beyond the classroom as a primary language learning tool, or as a supplemental tool to an existing program. Everything a teacher needs to make Spanish language learning fun and memorable is included in the MARACAS Las Cuatro Estaciones Curriculum and CD. The curriculum contains 25 classroom tested, Multiple Intelligences based lessons divided into four units by the seasons. Each unit is thematically connected to real-life learning and is embedded with standards based content in the areas of science, math, social studies, and language arts.

Music is at the heart of this interactive learning program. Whether you’re an educator, school administrator, parent or student, experiencing the sounds and rhythms of Spanish through the diverse genres of MARACAS music featured in 22 songs will inspire you to enjoy language learning!

Experiencing the sounds and rhythms of Spanish in a fun and exciting way brings learning to life and aims to stir a love of learning language that can last a lifetime. MARACAS Las Cuatro Estaciones music and lessons take language learning to the next level by connecting it to real life experiences as well as the many academic experiences that are an authentic part of young children's lives each day. The MARACAS lessons contain positive messages and motivational ideas to empower children to be great learners, community members, and citizens of the world.

An FLTEACH listserv user recently suggested a few online resources for French teachers:

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This website: http://culturebox.france3.fr has short (2-7minute) video clips in French about French art, music, dance, literature etc. It's also a little bit like a news website in that it keeps the videos updated so students could go on and listen to a video and do a reflection or prepare something for a cultural discussion in class once a month or something like that.

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Many times in foreign language classes it is custom to have some kind of "social gathering" during the class period on cultural holidays or during a food unit. Rarely though, have I noticed that teachers teach students how they would be expected to eat and sit at a table in that particular cultural setting. As I am going to be a French teacher, I think that it would be a great learning experience to teach students how to set the table and eat in a French setting. Perhaps students could choose to bring different dishes: The bread, salad, soup, etc. and bring recipes in French to share with the class in a kind of class-made "cook book". Well, I thought that I would share this idea and the websites that I found some interesting information about French etiquette.http://french.lovetoknow.com/French_Dining_Etiquettehttp://french.lovetoknow.com/French_Social_Customs

A collection of French expressions and explanations of them is available at http://www.mon-expression.info . Although the blog hasn’t been updated for a while, it is browsable by topic and the explanations are detailed.

The Classical Association of the Middle West and South will offer $250 cash prizes, book awards, and letters of commendation to qualifying winners in its School Awards Latin Translation Contest.

This year's competition is open to advanced Latin students enrolled in secondary schools, or homeschooled, anywhere in the United States and Canada. Their teachers must be individual members of CAMWS, or their schools must be institutional members of CAMWS, or their school libraries must subscribe to the Classical Journal. Following the annual alternation of Prose and Poetry, the 2011-2012 one-hour examination will offer Latin Poetry as exemplified by Vergil, Ovid et al. Contestants should translate as literally as possible without violating English idiom, and they should know the relevant vocabulary presented in Colby's Latin Word Lists (a copy of which is available upon request with registration). This examination is intended for students who have had at least three years of Latin, but is also open to superior second-year students. This examination must be administered by a school official other than the Latin teacher during the week of November 28 - December 2, 2011.

Writers of the ten most outstanding papers will each receive a $250 cash prize. An additional twenty outstanding contestants will receive a book prize relevant to classical antiquity. Writers of meritorious examinations will receive letters of commendation.

Created in partnership with Indiana German organizations and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, this exhibit will present both traditional and contemporary Germany and the close ties the country has with Indiana. German performances, food and displays will truly take our visitors on a trip overseas!

When students of Chinese explore art in conjunction with language, they not only have fun, they unravel abstract concepts, deepen cultural understanding, and build language proficiency. There are many ways to enliven lessons, whether by encouraging students to create their own masterpieces, or by helping them investigate and analyze artworks in museums or online collections.

The purpose of this on-line study-guide and course-outline is to make text and visual materials on the arts of Burma readily and inexpensively available, in particular to students and teachers. These materials assume college level reading skills so that the contents may be used for independent study courses, as a resource for teachers in secondary schools, as well as anyone interested in expanding and enriching their knowledge of the Arts and Cultures of Burma.

The themes of the course follow the chronological development of the major visual art forms of Burma as they have been reconstructed from an incomplete archeological record and very limited written records. The study of archaeology and art history is not well developed in Burma so that benchmark dates and facts are not abundant. Patterns and themes that are at present discernible will be traced through five major periods. General characteristics of each period are discussed at the beginning of each section.

Do you want to learn Tlingit? You could start with the 50 letters, including some sounds that are not found in other languages.

A new online tool, plus a note-card-and-audio system, is aimed at children. But it can help students of any age.

The Sealaska Heritage Institute has created the online, audiovisual teaching program. It’s also being distributed as a note card and CD-audio system teaching the written language’s 50 letters.

The institute is sending alphabet-card-and-CD packages to 15 Southeast Alaska language teachers. Others can use the online version or request copies. They’re also on sale to the general public.

The new release, titled “Let’s Learn Tlingit,” joins other Native language publications and online tools created by the heritage institute. They include Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian dictionaries, plus phrase and spelling books.

The 10th biennial Language Is Life gathering will take place at the Marin Headlands Institute, Sausalito, CA, on September 16-18, 2011. Meet with your fellow indigenous language activists to share ideas and recharge in your efforts to revitalize your Native language. You can register by going to http://www.aicls.org and clicking on “online ATTENDEE APPLICATION form.”

Basic Functions: Plan, develop, and maintain a comprehensive development program for CAL that will support the mission and vision of the organization established by the Board of Trustees. Collaborate with CAL’s officers and directors as a member of the senior management team to carry out CAL’s mission and oversee fiscal, administrative, and programmatic matters.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

* Design and implement a comprehensive development program and appropriate marketing strategies to acquire funding from federal, state, corporate, foundation, private sector, and other sources
* Guide the design and implementation of improved systems and resources for supporting proposal development and submission efforts
* Lead efforts within CAL to identify and track research and project opportunities
* Identify, define and acquire new sources of funding available to CAL
* Maintain relationships with current/past donors, and establish new contacts
* Direct all proposal activities involved in responding to complex Requests for Proposals (RFP) and bid preparations including, scheduling and resource estimating for proposal process, managing proposal teams, final proposal review, presentation, and follow-up
* Develop and manage annual budget for the Development Office
* Engage CAL staff in the vision for development and provide relevant skill building opportunities in order to expand internal capacity to support the development process
* Other related duties as may be assigned

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Education & Experience:
Advanced degree and knowledge of issues related to language, cultural studies, education, or research. Minimum of 7 years of related experience required. Experience in fund development for an education or research based organization, including federal and state contracting, preferred.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
The successful candidate will have:

* Proven track record of achieving annual revenue targets
* Proven management and leadership capabilities
* Experience working with Senior Level executives in a non-profit environment
* High energy, positive attitude, flexibility, teamwork, and attention to detail
* High degree of initiative
* Strong verbal communications skills and demonstrated ability to write clearly and persuasively
* Demonstrated ability to think strategically and thorough understanding of strategic development
* Demonstrated ability to prospect, cultivate, and manage new donors
* Strong partnership-building and collaboration skills
* Thorough understanding of all components of a diversified funding base
* Proficient in MS Office software
* Ability to communicate the written and spoken word with tact, diplomacy, and authority when necessary
* Ability to work under pressure with multiple priorities and deadlines

Qualified candidates should send a resume, cover letter, and salary requirement to jobs at cal dot org. Please note job title and vacancy number in the subject line. Resumes and cover letters can also be sent to:

Purpose
To recognize doctoral dissertation research that makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge about second or foreign language tests and testing and/or the use and development of such tests and testing.

Award Value
$2,500 (U.S. dollars)
Round-trip economy airfare, expenses and hotel accommodations for three nights at the Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), where the award is presented

To be considered for the award:
The candidate’s institution must have accepted the dissertation within three years before the date of the award application.
The research must have been completed as part of the requirements for a doctoral degree, or its equivalent, at a university within or outside the United States.
Although the dissertation under consideration must be in English, the research may be related to second- or foreign-language testing of any language.
Note: Candidates who have submitted abstracts for this award in previous years are not eligible.

September 1 — Deadline for receipt of summary and abstract, letter from advisor and official proof of dissertation acceptance

American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS is now accepting applications for its 2012-2013 Title VIII Grants for Research and Advanced Language Training programs in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Southeast Europe, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine. Only U.S. citizens are eligible for these awards.

The application deadline for all Title VIII fellowships is October 1, 2011.

Please note that Title VIII Research Scholar Program and Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program must begin between June 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013; and must be completed by September 30, 2013. Title VIII Southeast European Language Training Program offers fellowships for Spring 2012 and Summer 2012 only.

Fellowships will be offered in three categories:

*Title VIII Research Scholar Program: Provides full support for three- to nine-month research trips to Russia, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Southeast Europe, Ukraine, and Moldova. Fellowships include roundtrip international travel, housing and living stipend, visa support, medical insurance, archive access, and logistical support in the field. Open to U.S. graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and faculty. Annual deadline: October 1st.

*Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program: Provides full support for research and up to ten academic hours per week of advanced language instruction for three-to-nine months in Russia, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Southeast Europe, Ukraine, and Moldova. Fellowships include roundtrip international travel, housing and living stipend, tuition, visa support, medical insurance, archive access, and logistical support in the field. Open to U.S. graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and faculty. Annual deadline: October 1st.

*Title VIII Southeast European Language Training Program: Provides fellowships for graduate students, faculty, and scholars to study language for spring 2012 and/or summer 2012 in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. Open to students at the MA and Ph.D. level, as well as post-doctoral scholars and faculty, who have at least elementary language skills.

Funding for these programs is available through American Councils from the U.S. Department of State¹s Program for Research and Training on Eastern Europe and the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union (Title VIII). All competitions for funding are open and merit based. All applications will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, or disability.

Mahoning County Regional Workshops
An all day event in time to get you ready for the first day of school.
When: 18 Aug 2011, 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Location: Mahoning County Educational Service Center
Early-Bird Registration - August 4
Final Registration - August 14

With the support of the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), Second Language Testing, Inc. (SLTI), Georgetown University, and the National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC), the East Coast Organization of Language Testers (ECOLT) will hold its tenth annual conference this fall, October 28-29, 2011, at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

The 2011 CREATE capstone conference will highlight current research on methods for building literacy skills and oral language development for English language learners across the content areas. CREATE researchers will describe their work on a school-wide intervention targeting 7th grade English language learners in science, social studies, English language arts, and math. Other top scholars will discuss the implications of their research on supporting English language learners' language and literacy development across the curriculum.

This conference is intended for leaders in state and regional agencies, school districts, schools, and colleges of education. The conference supports participants’ learning with essential readings on the central themes of the conference (distributed in advance), keynote presentations, question-and-answer sessions with presenters, and small group interactions with colleagues.

LESLLA: Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition (LESLLA) for Adults is an international forum of researchers, teacher educators, and practitioners who share an interest in research on the development of second language skills by adult immigrants with little or no schooling prior to entering their new countries.

The goal of the LESLLA is to share empirical research and information to help inform and guide further research on second language acquisition for the low-educated adult population. This research in turn will provide guidance to education policy development, curriculum development, and teaching practices in all those countries in which immigrants settle and most need educational support.

It is time already to start planning for the special issue 30.3 to be published in May 2013. With this call for proposals we are looking for (a) guest editor(s). If you are interested in becoming a guest editor, please submit a proposal that should have the following rubrics:

(1) name(s) and affiliation(s) of the guest editor(s)
(2) topic of the special issue
(3) rationale for the topic
(4) production timeline (containing such dates as deadlines for CfPs, authors, reviewers, revisions)
(5) short CV of each guest editor.

Informal enquiries as well as the formal proposal can be sent to Bryan and Mat at calicojournal at gmail dot com. The submission deadline for formal proposals is 30 September 2011.

AccELLerate! is the quarterly review of the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition; we strive to include topics of interest to stakeholders in the education of English learners. The fall 2011 issue will focus on topics related to two of the discretionary grants issued through the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA): the National Professional Development (NPD) and the Native American and Alaska Native Children in School (NA/AN) programs. NPD grants focus on preservice and inservice development of teachers prepared to work with EL students in programs that meet their needs, while NA/AN grants focus on improving the educational outcomes of Native American and Alaska Native children by helping them meet the same rigorous standards for academic achievement that all children are expected to meet.

This call for contributions invites articles from ESL, bilingual education, and content-area teachers, state and local administrators, researchers, and others who work with these programs and/or these populations; in particular, we invite current and former recipients of NPD and NA/AN grants. Topics relevant to the issues may include (but are not limited to): use of students’ heritage language and culture; parent involvement/home school relations; PD activities that incorporate and affirm students’ background and culture; and PD activities that have been found to be especially successful for preservice and inservice teachers.

Preference is given to manuscripts that are well-prepared, well-organized, and well-written. Three categories of papers are published in the quarterly review. (1) Full-length articles (approximately 1,000 words including all references, tables, and figures) should provide objective synthesis and interpretation of a subject of importance to the field or report original research. (2) Success Stories (about 500 words) describe successful projects and programs or provide brief reports of new observations, concepts, or methodologies. (3) Teachers’ Gems of Wisdom (about 250 words) share professional insights and best practices in teaching ELs. Papers that have been published or are under consideration for publication elsewhere in an accessible, retrievable form are not acceptable for submission to the review on grounds of prior publication. However, summaries of previously published work may be submitted.

To submit an article

* All submissions should include complete contact information (phone number and email) for the primary author and a short biography with the name, title, and affiliation of each author.
* All articles will be reviewed carefully; NCELA may request revisions by the author(s) and/or may make needed revisions. A submission does not guarantee publication; revising an article does not guarantee publication.
* Submissions for a full-length article will include the title of the article and an abstract of no more than 250 words. Submissions must be received by August 15; authors will be contacted by August 19 to write a full article by September 30.
* Submissions for a Success Story or Teachers' Gems of Wisdom will include the title of the submission and the full article. Submissions must be received by August 24.
* Complete submissions should be sent to Natalia Romanova, editor, at romanova at gwu dot edu.
* All authors will be notified of the publication status of their articles by October 20, 2011.

Manuscript preparation guidelines
All articles should be submitted electronically in MSWord format. For writing and editorial style, authors should follow guidelines in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition, 2009), except for citations. Please note that, in order to improve the readability of the publication for a broad audience, references are cited in the text in bracketed numbers, with the references following each article in the same numerical order; other notes are indicated by consecutively numbered superscripts. Go to http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/accellerate to see past issues of the quarterly review.

CLTA Conference 2012
Theme: Not the End but the Beginning - A Multicultural, Multilingual World
March 15-18, 2012
Airport Hilton
Los Angeles, California

CLTA gives the presenters of a workshop a $100.00 honorarium, one free registration without meals and $1.00 per attendee for copying handouts. All workshops take place on Thursday and Friday before the conference begins on Saturday. For each interest session, CLTA offers a free registration without meals as well as $30.00 to offset the cost of copying handouts.

L2 Interactional Competence and Development
by John Hellermann, Simona Pekarek Doehler, and Joan Kelly Hall
published by Multilingual Matters

Summary: Drawing on data from a range of contexts, including classrooms, pharmacy consultations, tutoring sessions, and video-game playing, and a range of languages including English, German, French, Danish and Icelandic, the studies in this volume address challenges suggested by these questions: What kinds of interactional resources do L2 users draw on to participate competently and creatively in their L2 encounters? And how useful is conversation analysis in capturing the specific development of individuals’ interactional competencies in specific practices across time? Rather than treating participants in L2 interactions as deficient speakers, the book begins with the assumption that those who interact using a second language possess interactional competencies. The studies set out to identify what these competencies are and how they change across time. By doing so, they address some of the difficult and yet unresolved issues that arise when it comes to comparing actions or practices across different moments in time.

MakeBeliefsComix.com, the free online comic strip generator, has launched a new Special Needs Section to help educators, educational therapists and parents use the site to enable children with a wide array of disabilities communicate more effectively and express their ideas by creating comic strips online. (See http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Special-Needs )

Creating comic strips is a fun way to encourage writing and reading. The new section provides examples of how educators use the site with children who are on the Autism Spectrum, who are deaf/hearing impaired, who have head injuries/brain tumors, stutter, are struggling writers, or have physical and mental disabilities. The content is based on suggestions and input from users who share what they have learned in using the site.

The site also provides a Teacher Resources section (http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators ) that offers educators 21 ideas on how to use comic strips in the classroom to improve student writing and English skills. There are blank comic templates that can be printed and completed by hand, in addition to more than 100 printables on a variety of subjects. In addition to English, comic strips can also be written in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, German and Italian, offering and a useful tool for students who know or are learning new languages.

School will be beginning for many of us soon, and teachers are sharing plenty of great ideas for starting the school year. We will be sharing some of them this week and in coming weeks.

From the MoreTPRS listserv:

I usually take the first day to hand out my rules, keeping in mind that the students have already (or will obtain) obtained rules from several other teachers.

The first real activity that my students engage in is learning everyone's first name. So, I start with the first student, who says, after I have repeated this about 20 times to the class, "Je m'appelle _____." ( "My name is _____." ) The second student says the same thing, and then tells the rest of the class, "Il s'appelle _____," while pointing to the student in front of him. (I have only male students, and the "Il s'appelle" means "His name is...." )

We continue until the very end, where the last student, bless his heart, must tell his name in French and then repeat everyone else's first name, in French. Of course, he has heard their names many times by then.

I used to think that this activity might be too much for the students, but they always seem to like it! We do this in a light-hearted way and do not hesitate to remind those students who seem to forget of everyone's first name.

After that, I like to spend a bit of time asking my students why they chose to study French.

After explaining class rules, I hand out my rules, all typed on one page.

My school does not tolerate much student noise in class. Sometimes acting silly while telling TPRS-style stories is too much for students. Therefore, now I usually start with a list of frequently used vocab. We act that out because the students must, in my opinion, know the basics like Stand up, sit down, be quiet, please, thank you, etc.

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What I do (which is totally borrowed from other TPRS teachers): I do PQA (Personalized Questions/Answers), or whatever name it goes by for different people. I have a template for a desk name card (cardstock paper folded in half). On one part kids write their name and the other part they draw a picture. The picture varies by class based on what we will study in our first chapter. (Spanish 3 is all about past tense so they draw something they liked to do when they were kids--I'm the only TPRS'er in my school.) Then I just chat with them about their pictures, writing all the new words on the board as I use them. I try to talk to/about 4 or 5 kids a day.

I use the name cards to give a seating chart on the 2nd day. They come in and find their name and sit there.

I give my syllabus out about the 4th day of class--that way on the first day or 2 I'm not one of 100 teachers who bore them with nothing but rules. I have an activity that I do with our behavior incentive program that leads into the syllabus.

A range of ELT publications is available in pdf to download from the British Council’s website. These include Milestones - a series of classic ELT texts published online as part of the British Council’s 75th anniversary celebrations.

Teachers in middle of debate over immigrant kids
Many teachers less concerned about law, more about kids' potential
July 7, 2011

When an award-winning journalist recently revealed he’s an illegal immigrant, two of the key players in his tale turned out to be educators who helped keep his secret. It’s the kind of story teachers and principals scattered across the country know well.

With some 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., educators increasingly find themselves caught between their obligation to educate each child and conflicting guidance, or simply no direction at all, about whether to help such students beyond the classroom.

Ultimately, the adults in each classroom have to decide for themselves how far they will go.

While a student is learning a functional level of English at school, many other factors play a role outside the classroom. Like most skills, language is not learned in a vacuum. If the student’s parents speak no English, and are not in the process of learning English themselves, there will be little reinforcement at home to support the language learning process. The lack of regular “practice” of the language outside the classroom results in limited opportunities to apply what the student has learned.

Using Blogs to Engage English Language Learners
By Jon Schwartz
7/14/11

"Robbie doesn’t write," his mom told me. When he first came into my fourth grade class, asking him for 20 words was like pulling teeth. He actually scribbled a number on top of each word to keep track so he wouldn’t write any more than the absolute minimum. Four months after I introduced him to blogging, he’s consistently writing more than 100 words per post. Not only that, Robbie turned from a shy, introverted kid to a source of inspiration and information for his peers. He sees himself as a writer.

In celebration of the Statue of Liberty’s 125th birthday (October 28th, 2011), the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, in collaboration with the U.S. National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument, the City of New York Parks and Recreations, and the American Association of Teachers of French are hosting a Franco-American Transatlantic contest for students in grades pre-K to 12.

Excellence Through Classics for Elementary and Middle School Levels sponsors the Exploratory Latin Exam, an age-appropriate national evaluation for students in grades 3 through 6. While grammatical forms are not tested, students should be able to recognize vocabulary in grammatical context.

Exams may be administered at any point between October 1, 2011 and April 1, 2012.

This is the question posed by Sibylle Machat via her website, where she displays drawings of people’s imagined answers. She invites people to submit their ideas via postcard. This would be a great class activity, and the images Sibylle has already collected would make great writing or discussion prompts. Plus, students would probably get a kick out of seeing their work displayed online. This would obviously fit in well with a global issues class, but it would also work as part of a unit on community or activist art.

Deciding between 'Siezen' and 'Duzen' can be tricky at times. If you 'siezt' someone too long, you may come across as too stiff, on the other hand if you 'duzt' someone too quickly, you risk sounding impolite. Well, certain German groups have this dilemma covered. It's been a growing trend in the German business world to 'duzt' your colleagues. In fact, some companies have a clause in your contract that states that you agree to address others in the company with 'du.' One pioneering example is the Swedish chain IKEA that insists that this familiar form of addressing people be used, even towards customers! The same trend exists in many artistic venues as well.

A special edition of the iconic German Duden dictionary has just been published on the 100th anniversary of its creator's death that features a selection of new words to enter the language over the past decade.

Aptly entitled "Unsere Wörter des Jahrzehnts. 2000 bis 2010 - Von Abfrühstücken bis Zwischenparken" (Our Words of the Decade. 2000 to 2010 - From 'Breakfast-Devouring' to 'Inbetween Parking'), it traces the latest trajectory of the German language and incorporates new terms that have in many cases only entered common parlance due to societal changes.

The JLPT Administration Committee in the United States has released information on the registration process for the 2011 Test. This year, the registration period will last one month from September 1st to 30th and they will only be accepting applications by mail. For additional information, please visit the following URL: http://www.jflalc.org/jlpt_index.html.

A Far East movement: Chinese school launches online tutoring program
by Nicole Narea
July 17, 2011

Seven-year-old Madison Kung barely looks up from the screen of his iMac computer when his mother, Terri, calls his name. The Looney Tunes-like sound effects coming from the laptop speakers would suggest that he is engrossed in a video game. On the contrary -- it is his Chinese homework.

The Chinese Language School of Connecticut has taught Mandarin as a second language to non-native students ranging from toddlers to adults since its creation in 2002, but, as it enters its 10th year of operation, the Riverside-based school is launching a new online learning system called iVuChinese.

The iVuChinese curriculum utilizes Better Chinese, an independent study website that provides homework assignments and lesson plans that correlate to textbooks for students ages 8 and above. It centers on interactive learning rather than simply rote memorization, offering games, stories and songs for each lesson.

At the home page of the website of the African Studies Centre Leiden (http://www.ascleiden.nl ) you see an icon about the Africa Yearbook. This is an annual publication of Brill Publishers, and a co-production of the African Studies Centre in Leiden with other European colleagues. It gives you a detailed overview of new developments in each of the African countries and per African macro region. Recently the sixth edition has been published. Until August 1st Brill allows us (and you) to have free online access to all that wealth of information. Please have a look and download what you like; and please share it with your contacts!

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Watch a video exchange between Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka (D-HI), Chair of the Readiness and Management Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee and Leon Panetta during his confirmation hearing to become Secretary of Defense. They are discussing the value and importance of knowing other languages and the “foreign language capabilities” of the Defense Department. This clip is available on the Senator’s web site as well, http://akaka.senate.gov

Amid numerous proposed cuts to language programs in higher education, the Executive Council of the Modern Language Association has issued a statement calling for colleges to provide students with the chance to become fluent in a second language. "[D]espite student demand for language courses and public recognition of the opportunities of globalization, many college language programs have been reduced, closed, or threatened with closure," the statement says. "These actions deny students critical learning opportunities and impoverish their education. Preventing students from participating in college-level language learning does them a profound disservice, diminishes our cultural capacities, and isolates the American public from the conversations of the rest of the world."

Our years of work in diplomacy and national security have made very clear to both of us the critical need to maintain and expand the cadre of Americans who have studied the history and politics of countries who affect our well-being. Specifically, the United States' ability to both confront challenges and exploit opportunities relies heavily on Americans being able to understand and speak less commonly taught languages.

We believe that a grievous last-minute mistake was made when funding for International Education and Foreign Language Studies was cut for this fiscal year. In the context of billions and even trillions of cuts being discussed, a $50 million reduction sounds insignificant. But this particular $50 million cut from the Department of Education's budget amounted to a 40% reduction in the relatively small account that supports these programs at higher education institutions across the U.S. This is a dramatic cut that will have long-lasting and serious consequences — it not only threatens the nation's diplomatic, intelligence, and national security capacities, but also our ability to maximize our competitiveness in global markets. This cut was a last-minute decision made with the specter of a government shutdown hanging over it.

How to Raise a Global Kid
Taking Tiger Mom tactics to radical new heights, these parents are packing up the family for a total Far East Immersion.
by Lisa Miller
July 18, 2011

American parents have barely recovered from the anxiety attacks they suffered at the hands of the Tiger Mom—oh, no, my child is already 7 and she can’t play a note of Chopin—and now here comes 8-year-old Happy’s father, the multimillionaire American investor and author Jim Rogers, to give them something new to fret about. It is no longer enough to raise children who are brave, curious, hardworking, and compassionate. Nor is it sufficient to steer them toward the right sports, the right tutors, the right internships, and thus engineer their admittance to the right (or at least a good enough) college. According to Rogers, who in 2007 left New York’s Upper West Side to settle in Singapore with his wife, Paige Parker, and Happy (Beeland Anderson Parker Rogers, called Baby Bee, was born the next year), parents who really care about their children must also ponder this: are we doing enough to raise “global” kids?

These words will greet Hershey Intermediate students on the district’s new language exploratory website this fall.

Created by two Derry Township teachers and aimed at incoming fifth-graders, the site is designed to present students with the resources necessary to choose a foreign language the following year.

“Some parents and students were stressed about the decision since they continue with the same language for three years,” said Lisa Butler, Hershey Middle School Spanish teacher and the website’s co-creator.

“The administration asked that we find a way to give the students the chance to make an educated decision. Because of the audience we needed to reach, persuasive facts would not help. The students needed to see and play in both French and Spanish.”

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is currently seeking experienced individuals to take on the roles of Examiner Responsible for its Language A: language and literature course.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation offering challenging programmes for a world wide community of schools. It is now represented in over 120 countries and in over 2,000 schools. The IB provides an international pre-university curriculum and an international university entry qualification, which gives access to higher education on a worldwide basis. You may be interested to visit the public website at http://www.ibo.org for more details.

One of the characteristics of the IB's diploma programme is that students are required to study a language A course as one of six subjects that constitute the diploma. The IB’s Language A: language and literature courses are for students aged 16-18 who have experience of using the language of the course in an academic context. The courses are firmly based on the study of both language and literature, with a focus on how the study of texts produced in a language is central to how we see and understand the world in which we live. The texts studied on this course will be diverse and in the literature elements will also include works studied in translation. At the end of the two years, students are expected to be able to focus closely on the language of the texts they study and will be aware of the role of each text’s wider context in shaping its meaning. Formal analysis of literary works as well as an understanding of critical literacy are desired outcomes of this course.

The duties of examiner responsible include the setting and marking of examinations and may involve occasional (paid) travel to the IB curriculum and assessment centre in Cardiff, UK.

Please note that this position is part-time, involves no relocation, and is usually undertaken in addition to existing work commitments. In addition, examiners will be given clear instructions and be well supported throughout the process.

We are seeking an experienced individual with the following background:
· Native / fluent speakers of Norwegian, Korean, Italian or Russian
· Qualified to at least degree level, ideally in Norwegian, Korean, Italian or Russian literature
· Teaching experience
· Examining experience (desirable but not essential).

The IB is committed to offering the Language A: language and literature course in diverse languages, and regularly provides these examinations in sixteen different languages for its international candidature. We would be very keen to hear from all individuals with the above experience.

If you wish to apply, or would like further information, please contact Michael Rogers by e-mail (Michael.rogers at ibo dot org).

Thank you very much for reading this message and giving consideration to it.

In Honor and in Memory of Mickey Noonan
Linguistics Symposium at UW-Milwaukee
Language Death, Endangerment, Documentation and Revitalization
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
October 20-22, 2011

In a globalized world where hundreds of languages are expected to become extinct in the 21st century, it is highly relevant to analyze the viability and continuity of threatened languages. The purpose of the 26th Linguistics Symposium is to discuss this impending loss to humankind from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The 108th Annual Meeting of CAMWS will be held Wednesday-Saturday, March 28-31, 2012, at the Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel, Baton Rouge, LA, at the invitation of Louisiana State University. Proposals for panels and individual papers are now being accepted. All panel proposals must be received by August 26, 2011; all individual paper proposals must be received by September 23, 2011.

Papers and panels may be on any aspect of Graeco-Roman antiquity; especially welcome are panels likely to be of broad interest, including those concerned with pedagogy. Teachers and students of the Classics at any level of instruction (K-12, college, or university) may submit abstracts, but papers written by undergraduates will be evaluated separately from the rest and assigned to sessions designated for undergraduate papers.

The Centre for Applied Linguistics Research CALR is pleased to announce a call for papers for its upcoming refereed online journal on Multiple Perceptual Frames in English Language Teaching and Research.

Traditional approaches to English Language teaching have not resulted in sufficient preparation for the learner (CALR, 2011). More experimentation with anthropological, sociocultural, pragmatic and interactional frames may advance new perceptions and methodologies that can improve learners' experience in the English Language.

Specific areas of interest:
- Research extending knowledge associated with learning, understanding and applying the English Language.
- Research broadening horizons of English Language studies through reflecting on novice experiences and practices.

The Igbo Studies Association (ISA) extends a special invitation to scholars and professionals working on all aspects of studies on the Igbo of southern Nigeria for its next annual conference to be held from April 12 - 14, 2012, at Howard University, USA. In light of profound changes in recent decades and the serious challenges facing the Igbo & Igbo diasporic communities at the intersections of globalization, population movements, gender, science, technology, and socio-economic development, the 10th Annual Meeting will examine the general theme – Uwa Ndi Igbo – (the Igbo World) and its variations. The organizers welcome both local and international specialists/intellectuals at all stages in their careers to facilitate discussion and dialogue across disciplines and between scholars and professionals.

The deadline for submitting paper, as well as panel, proposals is November 30, 2011.

Growing Up with Two Languages
A Practical Guide for the Bilingual Family, 3rd Edition
By Una Cunningham
Published by Routledge

Description: The lives of many families involve contact with more than one language and culture on a daily basis. Growing Up with Two Languages is aimed at the many parents and professionals who feel uncertain about the best way to go about helping children gain maximum benefit from the multilingual situation.

This best-selling guide is illustrated by glimpses of life from interviews with fifty families from all around the world. The trials and rewards of life with two languages and cultures are discussed in detail, and followed by practical advice on how to support the child’s linguistic development.

Features of this third edition include:
a dedicated website with new and updated Internet resources
a new chapter giving the perspective of adults who have themselves grown up with more than one language
a new chapter presenting research into bilingual language acquisition with information about further reading
new and updated first-hand advice and examples throughout.

Portfolios to Assess Literacy and Second Language: An Annotated Bibliography
By: Sarah Elaine Eaton
Published by the National Adult Literacy Database

The author notes that the practice of using portfolios for second-language teaching has increased in popularity while, almost simultaneously, there has been a rise in the use of similar frameworks in the field of literacy. However, there is little collaboration between practitioners in each of the two fields.

This annotated bibliography is an attempt to collect, select and share resources that may be helpful to professionals working in both sectors, including teaching professionals and researchers who specialize in second-language teaching, language arts and first- and second-language literacy.

The author has divided the sources reviewed into three categories: practical classroom resources; video and multimedia resources; and scholarly articles and related research materials.

Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Rewriting Goldilocks
By Heather Lotherington
Published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Description: Based on case studies from public schools in Toronto, Canada, this book chronicles an inspiring five-year journey to develop thinking about and teaching literacy for the 21st century. The research, which was classroom-based and developed by public school teachers in collaboration with university researchers, was stimulated by an ethnographic study at Joyce Public School to track children learning to read in an era of multiliteracies.

Following the kindergarteners’ interest in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Lotherington asked the principal: What would Goldilocks look like, retold through the eyes of the children? The resulting classroom experiment to transform learning to read a storybook into multimodal collaborative story-telling sparked the development of an award-winning school-university learning community dedicated to the development of multimodal literacies in the culturally diverse, urban classroom.

Pedagogy of Multiliteracies tells the evolving story of teachers’ trial-and-error interventions to engage children in multiple modes of expression involving structured play with contemporary media. Using the complex texts created, the teachers carve spaces to welcome the voices of children and the languages of the community into the English-medium classroom.

July 17, 2011

Energisers are great activities and can save lives when you feel your students are not in the lesson anymore.

These quick games can be used to bring your students back to classroom. A little bit movement, mingle, laughter will break the ice, will help to get rid of the boredom. Maybe the focus is not directly on the language but still you can adapt these games according your students’ needs and levels.

The July 2011 National Capitol Language Resource Center newsletter is out. The theme this month is “Teacher Shortages and Program Sustainability.” To that end:

Jacqueline Van Houten and Ruta Cout ask “Is Teacher Shortage Really the Issue?”
Janet Nolan shares what Multilingual Chicago is doing to foster heritage languages in her article, “In Our Hands – A National Treasure.”
Rita Oleksak and Kate Krotzer share experiences with a program that strengthens teachers, and therefore programs, in Glastonbury CT.
Aileen Bach provides guidance on how to use “…Assessments to Promote Sustainability in Foreign Language Programs.”
John Ross shares some ideas and advice about the burdgeoning market for foreign language Apps in “Yea, There’s an App for That, but…”
YANA shares bits and pieces of conversations about the state of foreign language study, how we got here, and what might the future be.

Due to budget cuts, the July 2011 issue of Culture Club is the final issue. Catch movie and book reviews, interviews with teenagers, contests, and an article “The French Writers of New England” among other resources at http://nclrc.org/cultureclub/current_directory.html

The U.S. Department of Education will host the third in a series of public meetings related to the Race to the Top Assessment (RTTA) grants on Wednesday, Aug. 10, at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. This meeting will convene representatives from both RTTA consortia and a panel of experts to discuss addressing the needs of students with disabilities and English learners as they work to develop next-generation assessment systems.

The RTTA program (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/index.html ), part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, awarded grants to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), which together comprise 45 states and the District of Columbia. The two consortia are developing comprehensive assessment systems in English language arts and mathematics for grades 3 through 8 and high school, aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The improved assessments, which will be implemented in the 2014-15 school year, will measure whether students have the knowledge and skills necessary to graduate from high school ready for success in college and careers.

The new assessment systems will include all English learners and students with disabilities, except for a small percentage of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who may be eligible for a different assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards. The consortia are committed to ensuring the assessments are valid, reliable and fair for all students. The Aug. 10 meeting will help PARCC, SBAC and the Department address key questions from the consortia about how to improve the accessibility of assessment systems.

Future meetings on the RTTA program may include such topics as developing assessments that share or translate content and data across different technology platforms; setting achievement standards and performance levels; defining college and career readiness; and creating a uniform growth model. Funding to support these meetings is provided by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Breaking down the language barrier is one facet of the small Nebraska district's approach to raising Hispanic achievement as its minority population grows sharply, largely drawn by employment at a local meatpacking plant.

A new government report suggests that Crete is on the right track.

The report reveals the language barrier as a key reason why the nation's Hispanic students continue to score lower than their white peers on national math and reading tests.

An achievement gap has persisted relatively unchanged over the past two decades nationally.

At the same time, both whites and Hispanics have improved their scores steadily, if slightly, according to the report from the U.S. Department of Education.

McGowan said his district has chosen to confront the language challenges rather than make excuses.

“We could say, ‘Gee, we have too many parents not speaking English, how can we have parent-teacher conferences?' Or we could go out and get 22 translators,” he said. “We could complain about kids coming to kindergarten and not speaking English, or we can serve 186 children in early childhood programs.”

Stanford to Lead Creation of ELL Standards for 'Common Core'
By Mary Ann Zehr
July 12, 2011

Stanford University has received a grant of $1 million from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to create English-language-proficiency standards for the states' common-core academic standards.

By funding the effort, the Carnegie Corporation fills a gaping hole in the process of implementing the common-core standards for ELLs. The U.S. Department of Education earlier this year launched a grant competition for English-language-proficiency tests to be developed for the common-core standards, but the $10.7 million provided for that competition doesn't pay for the development of English-language-proficiency standards, which typically come first. The winner or winners of the assessment-grant competition are expected to be announced in August.

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